Building Your Author Platform: Creating Your Literary Brand

Your website is the cornerstone of your author platform — the one place you have complete control over. Unlike social media platforms, which can change policies or even disappear, your website belongs to you.

Key elements every author website should include:

This may all sound rather daunting, and I don’t blame you. It positively overwhelmed me when I started out.

The good news is once you find the right hosting platform, things will start to fall into place.

I use Systeme.io. What I love about it isn’t just its ease of use but its all-in-one capabilities. It offers not just website hosting but also email management and e-commerce functionality — essential for direct book sales.

However, the most important advice I can give: Make your website easy to navigate. Readers should be able to find your books, learn about you, and join your email list with minimal effort.

In other words, don’t come up with clever menu navigation titles. Try to stick with things that are more obvious. For your About page, call it About Me or About the Author and not, hmm… Things You Should Know or something prosy like that.

Keep it simple and straightforward so that your readers don’t have to search through your entire site to find your email signup, which you’ve labeled Need the 4-1-1? You want them to come back — not get so fed up they leave and never return.

My indie mentress, Joanna Penn, raved about WordPress and said it was easy and relatively cheap. So I signed up right away. What I didn’t count on was what’s easy for most people when it comes to tech doesn’t mean it’ll be easy for me!

And it wasn’t. I had to have someone set it all up for me. (The whole “skin” and “themes” confused the heck out of me!) And then I needed my friend Chris to help me every time I had to change some content because I could never remember how to do it!

After the umpteenth time, Chris finally told me about Systeme.io. It was his platform of choice, and he thought it would work for me because it’s your basic drag-and-drop setup.

So I left WordPress and signed up with Systeme.io.

And he was right. Oh, my gosh! After a two-hour tutelage, I was designing my website all by myself! Me — a tech illiterate was actually enjoying website design! And I still love it. Everything on my site is now done through my own hands. I no longer have to pester Chris for help.

It’s truly empowering!

My only issue with Systeme is there’s no customer service number to call. But not only do they have a thorough Help section, they also have a wonderful support staff via email, who usually respond to any inquiry within a couple hours.

I’ve utilized both in the creation of my site. But for the most part, Systeme is self-explanatory. In fact, I’ve just learned how to upload my recordings onto these posts and on my emails — and I didn’t even have to search Help or contact customer service!

But if you don’t have issues with technology, WordPress may be the right fit for you. There are so many hosting platforms out there, not even Goldilocks would have trouble finding the one that’s “just right.”

After your website in terms of importance would be social media.

Let me be honest. I’m not much of a fan (it takes time — valuable time that could be spent writing books!), but I recognize that readers appreciate instant access to you and hearing from you on a regular basis.

Think of your website as your permanent address and social media as the various neighborhoods where you socialize with readers. Unlike your website, social platforms put you in direct, daily contact with potential readers — but they require consistent attention.

So, I started with Facebook and, gradually, added more platforms. But if you don’t know where to start, let me help you begin the process.

While you may feel pressure to be everywhere, it’s better to maintain a strong presence on a few platforms than a weak presence on many.

Consider:

I maintain accounts on Facebook and Instagram as my primary platforms, with Twitter and Tumblr specifically for my Books by Alicia brand. I also use LinkedIn for professional connections and announcements.

I’ll admit that I’m not consistently on any of them right now. I spend more time writing books, emails, and posts.

So I guess I’m giving you the “do as I say and not as I do” strategy. Just pick a couple. Trust me. It’ll be much easier for you.

The most successful author social media accounts balance:

Remember: Social media is about being social. Engage with readers, respond to comments, and build relationships rather than just promoting your books.

Again, that would be my “do as I say” approach because, admittedly, I suck at this part. I don’t check in to my accounts as often as I should. But I do make a point of checking my emails daily.

While your website and social media accounts form the core of your online presence, don’t overlook the power of established book-related platforms. These specialized sites connect you directly with readers who are actively looking for their next great read.

Think of these as your satellite offices — places where readers who might never find your website can discover you through their existing reading habits.

Beyond your own website and social media, several important platforms allow you to create author profiles:

I have a presence on each of these platforms, but they often take a backseat to more immediate priorities. Between writing new books and maintaining my primary website, these secondary profiles sometimes get less attention than they deserve.

It isn’t that I don’t feel they’re important because they are. It’s just… well, there are only so many hours in a day, and writing novels isn’t my day job. Once I get home, I’m beat, and my days off are reserved for working on my novels and crafting emails and posts.

*Sigh* If only I could afford a personal assistant! Or clone myself. Hmm… 🤔

When creating these profiles, choose your name carefully! I initially created most of my author pages under my A.J. Strickland pen name because that was the pen name of my first novel. Now that I’ve established my “Books by Alicia” brand umbrella, I’m finding it challenging to update things.

Consider your long-term branding strategy before setting up these profiles. If you plan to write under multiple pen names, think about whether a unifying brand might serve you better from the start.

While managing various platforms may feel overwhelming, there’s one marketing asset that rises above all others in importance: your email list. If your website is your home and social media your neighborhood hangouts, think of your email list as your personal invite-only club.

Unlike social media where your posts might reach only a fraction of your followers, emails land directly in your readers’ inboxes. And unlike platform-specific author pages that can change policies overnight, your email list belongs entirely to you.

While social media and other platforms are important, your email list is the most valuable marketing asset you’ll ever build.

Why?

With those benefits in mind, let’s talk about how to build an effective list that connects with your ideal readers.

Before building your list, it will be infinitely helpful to come up with a reader avatar/persona. This is a copywriting trick that really helps.

Whenever you write emails or content for your website, you need to speak to ONE person. Don’t write to “all of you” or “my readers” — write to ONE person.

To do that effectively, you create a reader persona — the ideal reader for whom you write your novels. Maybe your ideal is your mom. Maybe your sister’s your rabid fan. Whoever that person is, create a bio for her (or him).

It’s up to you how in-depth you want to get. But you should know enough about this ideal reader to feel as if she’s an old friend. Give her a name. Maybe even find stock image online of the person you see in your mind.

Does she have a nickname? How old is she? Is she married? With children? What’s her job? Is she a CEO or in manual labor? Does she have pets, hobbies, pet peeves…? The list is endless and entirely up to you.

But when you’ve created your reader avatar, you now have your focus of every email, post, and website content. You speak to HER. Don’t use her name, of course (she’s not real, remember), but write your content with her in mind. This will help every word you write flow naturally and engage all your readers— because each reader will, in essence, be embodied by your avatar.

Now that you’ve figured out your ideal reader and given her a name, it’s time to go out there and bring her into your fold.

To begin building your list:

It will take time to amass a following. But don’t stress out. The more books you write, the better your chances of exposure, which means possible signups.

Just don’t compare yourself to others, especially if they’ve been doing it longer. You’ll hear authors touting their numbers (“I just reached 1,000 subscribers!”), and you might feel deflated or downright depressed.

Buck up! Your turn will come. Just keep writing and getting the word out.

If you write in multiple genres under different names (as I do), you have two options:

1. Separate lists for each pen name.

2. One main list with segmentation options.

I initially planned separate email lists for each pen name but realized that maintaining multiple lists would be time-consuming. Instead, I created one main list under Books by Alicia. (My plan is to offer tagging options that allow readers to select which pen names’ updates they want to receive. I just have to figure out how to do that! 🤭)

Most email marketing services offer tagging or segmentation features that allow you to send targeted communications to specific reader groups.

I can’t stress this enough: Building a quality email list takes time and consistency. Don’t get discouraged by slow growth at the beginning — focus on engaging the readers you have, and your list will grow organically.

Also, expect some subscribers to unsubscribe with each email you send. This is normal and actually healthy — you want an engaged list, not just a large one.

At the end, I’ll list some eBooks that may help you understand and navigate the list-building conundrum. If you start reading these before implementing them, you’ll save yourself time, money, and headaches!

Now that we’ve established your online presence and email strategy, it’s time to ensure everything works together cohesively through thoughtful branding.

If your website is your home, social media your neighborhoods, and your email list your private club — then your author brand is the distinctive personality that makes all these spaces recognizably yours.

Think of your favorite authors — you probably have a clear impression of who they are and what their books deliver. That’s not accidental; it’s the result of careful branding decisions that create a consistent experience across all touchpoints.

Your author brand is more than just a logo or color scheme — it’s the total impression you make on readers.

It encompasses:

Speaking of identity, one of the books I read recently mentioned that it’s up to you to decide how much personal information you want to give away. And I think this is a valid point.

Decide at the beginning what sort of relationship you want with your readers. Is writing books a passion or merely a pastime? Do you want to do this long-term, or is this just this year’s whim? Do you write to stir hearts or merely to entertain?

The answers to such questions will help you decide how much of yourself you want to invest in your brand.

Assuming you’ve created your avatar, what sort of relationship do you want to have with her? Is this a BFF-type thing, where you’re willing to divulge your deep, dark secrets? Or is this more of a “let’s get together for coffee when you’re in the area” acquaintance, where you dish the latest dirt on who got whom pregnant from high school… then go your separate ways?

One will have you being totally open. The other, not so much. And don’t be ashamed of either approach. Don’t force yourself out of your comfort zone. It may be that, today, you want to keep things more detached but, as you write more, find that you’re allowing more of yourself to come through.

I’m pretty open. Not because I think I’m all that but because writing is my calling. And though I do write to entertain, I also write to reach people. My subject matters can be very emotional and touch a lot of sore points in people’s lives. I want them to know that I don’t just write about personal change and growth, redemption and metamorphosis, I experienced it as well.

But allow your identity to grow organically. Don’t force anything. Just be yourself.

If you write across genres, consider whether separate pen names make sense. I write under several names, all unified under my Books by Alicia umbrella brand:

Each has its own distinct look while still connecting to my all-inclusive brand, Books by Alicia.

I get asked all the time why all the pen names. In case you’re wondering, too, I’ll tell you.

If you’re a fan of sweet romance, the spicy stuff may offend you. If I didn’t have separate pen names, you wouldn’t really know which story under an all-inclusive pen name was for you.

For instance, if I wrote everything under A.J. Strickland and you picked up book X, thinking it was another sweet romance, you’d be in for a shock when you read a graphic love scene!

The same goes for historical lovers. If I didn’t have HEARD, you might buy an Alicia Jane novel thinking it was set back in time… only to learn it’s a modern story. And you’d probably never read another book by Alicia Jane again for fear you’d waste your money on the wrong read.

And imagine the shock a kid (or parent) would get if I didn’t have Allie Jay but wrote all my books under A.J. Strickland… and little Jenny asked mommy, “What’s oral sex?”

No. It’s much better to separate my books into distinct pen names.

Wherever readers find you, they should recognize your brand through consistent:

This consistency builds trust and recognition, helping readers find and remember you across the digital landscape.

We’ve covered a lot of ground — from your website foundation to social media outreach, third-party platforms to email strategies, and the cohesive branding that ties it all together. Now comes the most important part: making this work for your unique situation and resources.

Building an effective author platform isn’t something that happens overnight. It requires planning, consistent effort, and patience. But the relationships you build with readers will sustain your author career far beyond any single book launch.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all these elements, take a deep breath. You don’t need to implement everything at once. Start with the essentials:

From there, you can expand as your confidence and audience grow. Remember that even established authors started with modest platforms — what matters is consistency and authenticity, not perfection.

It’s better to have:

Remember why you started this journey: to write and share stories. Your platform exists to connect those stories with the readers who will love them — not to consume all your creative energy.

As I’ve mentioned throughout this post, I’m still finding this balance myself. Some weeks, I’m more active online; others, I disappear into my writing cave. What matters is that my readers know they can count on me for engaging stories, even if my social media presence isn’t perfect.

And just a reminder: I’m not compensated by any platform, person, or service mentioned in this post.

If you’d like to check out any of the sites mentioned, here are those links:

One more thing… To help you get started on your Reader Persona journey, I’ve created a simple template you can download here.

This will give you the foundational basics to define your ideal reader without facing the intimidation of a blank page. Feel free to use it as a starting point for your own custom persona!